2020 Winner:
Dr. Cathy O'Neil of Columbia University, for "Weapons of Math Destruction" (Rutgers University Press, 2014)

2019 Outstanding Emerging Scholars
Dr. Dory Quinn - Pittsburg State University, Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences (named by Past-President Barbara Bonnekessen, Pittsburg State University)
Dr. Jussi Laine - University of Eastern Finland, Karelian Institute (named by President Chris Brown, New Mexico State University)
Dr. Montse Feu Lopez - Sam Houston State University, Department of World Languages & Cultures (named by President-Elect Debra D. Andrist, Sam Houston State University)

2018 Outstanding Emerging Scholars:
Dr. Tristan Wu - Fire and Emergency Management, Oklahoma State University (named by Past-President Michele Companion, UCCS)
Dr. M. Kyle Thompson - Dept of History, Philosophy & Social Sciences, Pittsburg State University (named by President Barbara Bonnekessen, Pittsburg State University)
Dr. Guadalupe Correa Cabrera -Schar School of Policy & Government, George Mason University (named by President-Elect Chris Brown, NMSU)

2017 Outstanding Emerging Scholars:
Dr. Subini Annamma, Department of Special Education, University of Kansas (named by Past President Heather Albanesi, UCCS)
Dr. AJ Faas, Department of Anthropology, San Jose State University (named by President Michele Companion, UCCS)
Dr. Lauren Balasco, History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences, Pittsburg State University (named by President-Elect Barbara Bonnekessen, Pittsburg State University)

2016 Outstanding Emerging Scholars:
Dr. KuoRay Mao, Sociology, Colorado State University (named by Past-President Prabha Unnithan, Colorado State University)
Dr. Liat Ben-Moshe, Disability Studies Program, University of Toledo (named by President Heather Albanesi, UCCS)
Dr. Julie K. Maldonado, Anthropology, University of California-Santa Barbara (named by President-Elect Michele Companion, UCCS)

2015 Outstanding New Scholars:
Dr. Amanda Ashley, Masters of Community and Regional Planning, Boise State University (named by Past President Les Alm, Boisie State University)
Dr. Manish Madan, Department of Criminal Justice, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (named by President Prabha Unnithan, Colorado State University)
Dr. Zek Valkyrie, Department of Sociology, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (named by President-Elect Heather Albanesi, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs)

2014 Past President's Junior Scholar:
Dr. Angela Smith, History, Philosophy & Religious Studies, North Dakota State University (named by Past President Tom Isern, North Dakota State University)

2020 Winner:
Guizhen Ma of Michigan State University and Erin Trouth Hoffman of Utah State University for "Immigration and environment in the U.S.: A spatial study of air quality." (The Social Science Journal, 56(1):94-106)

2018 Winner:
Dr. Jessica Smith Rolston, for “Mining Coal and Undermining Gender: Rhythms of Work and Family in the American West” (Rutgers University Press, 2014)

2017 Winner:
Dr. Cynthia Enloe, Clark University, for “Seriously! Investigating Crashes and Crises as if Women Mattered” (University of California Press, 2014)

2016 Winners:
Dr. Susan Starr Sered, Suffolk University; and
Dr. Maureen Norton-Hawk, Suffolk University, for "Can't Catch a Break: Gender, Jail, Drugs, and the Limits of Personal Responsibility" (University of California Press, 2014)

2015 Winner:
Dr. John Skrentny, "After Civil Rights: Racial Realism in the New American Workplace" (Princeton University Press, 2014)

2020 Winners:
Guizhen Ma of Michigan State University and Erin Trouth Hoffmann of Utah State University, for “Immigration and environment in the U.S.: A spatial study of air quality.”

2017 Winners:
Dr. Amanda Johnson Ashley, and Dr. Leslie Alm, Boise State University, for "Western regional identity and urban development policy: The view from professional planners” The Social Science Journal, 53(2):143-155

2016 Winner:
Dr. Lacey Wallace, Penn State Altoona, for "Responding to violence with guns: Mass shootings and gun acquisition", Social Science Journal, Volume 52, Issue 2, June 2015, pages 152-167;

2015 Winners:
Jeonghun Min and Daniel Savage, Why do American Indians vote Democratic?, Social Science Journal, Volume 51, Issue 2, 2014, Northeastern State University, Political Science, Tahlequah, Oklahoma;

2014 Winners:
Blake Davis and Scott Menard, Sam Houston State University, "Long-term Impact of Youth Sports Participation on Illegal Behavior." The Social Science Journal 50, 1, 34–44, (2013).

2024 Undergraduate Winners:
Outstanding Undergraduate Paper: Lonni Lee Garcia, St. Mary’s University, “How Does Religion Affect Intimate Partner Violence on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?”

Honorable Mention Undergraduate Paper: Jacob Silva, St. Mary’s University, “Depression and anxiety: outcomes of traumatic experience in relation with drug abuse”

2024 Graduate Winner:
Outstanding Graduate Paper: Abdullah Alqahtani, Mississippi College, “The Impact of Snapchat on the Level of COVID-19 Awareness in Saudi Arabia”

2023 Undergraduate Winner:
Best Undergraduate Paper: No Winner Selected

2023 Graduate Winners:
Outstanding Graduate Paper: Teverayiu Muguti, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, "The River is a Natural Resource, not a Border"

Honorable Mention Graduate Paper : Oladotun E. Awosusi, University of Fort Hare, South Africa, "Security Realism’ vs Pan-African Construct of Nigeria's Border Diplomacy in Africa"

2020 Undergraduate Winners:
Best Undergraduate Paper: Dalton Bailey, Manchester University (Indiana), "Kosciusko County Drug Court Evaluation"

First Honorable Mention Undergraduate Paper : Alexandra Tipps, Collin College - Frisco Campus (Texas), "From Indigenous Land to Privatization: An Introduction to the Complicated Identity of Palo Duro Canyon in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries."

2020 Graduate Winners:
Best Graduate Paper: Wei-Jie Liao, University of Nebraska at Omaha, "Examining the Patterns and Causes of Budget Changes at the Local Level"

First Honorable Mention Graduate Paper : Cody Woods, Colorado State University, "Applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework to Australia’s Military Environmentalism."

2018 Graduate Winners:
Best Graduate Paper: Soham Das, University of Texas, Dallas, for “My Moving Frescoes": “Ethnic Conflict: Assessing the Causal Cleavages”

First Honorable Mention Graduate Paper : Virpi Kaisto, University of Eastern Finland, and Olga Brednikova, Centre for Independent Social Research, St. Petersburg; "Lakes, Putin and Shopping on Mental Maps: Young People’s Perceptions of Space and Spatial Socialization in the Finnish Borderland"

Second Honorable Mention Graduate Paper: Yusun Kim, Syracuse University, "State Mandate Relief and Local Property Tax Cut: How Reduction in New York Mandated Medicaid Spending Impacts County Fiscal Behaviors"

2018 Undergraduate Winner:
None of the papers submitted met the criteria for 2018

2017 Graduate Winner:
Sungho Park, University of Nebraska at Omaha, for “My Moving Frescoes": “The Impact of State-Imposed Fiscal Rules on Municipal Government Fiscal Outcomes: Does Institutional Design Matter?”

2017 Undergraduate Winner:
Courtney Arbogast, Heidelberg University, for “Examining the Well-Being and Connectedness of Social Groups in College Students”

2016 Graduate Co-Winners:
Jesus Madrigal, University of California - Berkeley, for “My Moving Frescoes": Sergei Eisenstein and Mexican Muralism.

Jared L. Talley, Boise State University, for “Look What the Cat Dragged In: Domestic Cats, Their Prey, and Socially Constructed Policy”.

2016 Graduate Honorable Mention:
Reuben Addo, Colorado State University, for “Homeless Individuals’ Social Construction of a Public Park".

2016 Undergraduate Winner:
Luke Koran, North Dakota State University, for “A Journey from Frontiersmen to Historian: The Letters of George Northrup”.

2015 Undergraduate Winner:
Travis Van Horn, Western Oregon University, "F* You Dan Savage: A Queer Criticism of the It Gets Better Project";

2015 Undergraduate Honorable Mention:
Remington Sterling Krueger, North Dakota State University, "A Norwegian Immigrant and Homesteader in the Dakota War: Private Ole N. Orland";

2014 Graduate Winner:
Naomi Tom, Arizona State University, "Protecting our Communities Through Tribally Operated Institutional Review Boards."

2020 Winner:
Evgenia Spears, Texas A&M University, "Owner-land Relationship: A Phenomenological Study in the Texas Hill Country"
2020 Honorable Mention:
Michelle Phillips, UC Berkeley, "Racialization of the Servant: The Role of Racism in Perpetuating National/Ethnic Hierarchies in the Household."

2018 Winner:
No paper submitted met the criteria for 2018

2017 Winner:
Zihe (Lauren) Guo, University of Kentucky, for “Conduit Bond Financing of Local Governments Perspective from the U.S. and China”

2016 Winner:
Joseph Kellner, University of California - Berkeley, for “The End of History: Belief and the Soviet Collapse”.

2015 Winner:
Dongjae Jung, Arizona State University, for "The Federal-Local Nexus in Immigration Enforcement Policy: An Evaluation of the Secure Communities Program";

2014 Winner:
Anne Luna-Gordinier, Howard University, for "Women's Leadership in Urban Indian Centers: Organized Resistance to Dispossession and Patriarchy".

2017 Winners:
Jared Embree, Sara Paton, and Nicole Kinzeler, Wright State University, for “Correlations Between Increased Adult Suicide Rates and Population Density in Ohio Counties from 2007-2012”

2016 Winner:
Competition not held in 2016

2015 Winner:
Stefani Perez-Zamarripa, University of Nebraska at Kearney, "Home Is Where the Social Capital Is: An Analysis of Post Emigration Community Ties";